job hunting AC/BC

Posted on January 1, 2010 by the jodi

The last time I had to look for a job I used a newspaper. A New York Times, the kind you buy at a newsstand, then use to annoy everyone on the subway. Before I had a life that demanded cruising the Times classifieds, I was a back of the Village Voice kinda gal.  But, I haven’t had to look for a job since 1998, which means BCL (before craigslist), if you can believe it, before both Monster.com (1999) and before Craigslist New York (2000).

jodi sh doff : onlythejodi : job hunting : Village Voice

Even I have trouble believing it. And honestly, when my company folded, besides the fact that my industry was virtually disappearing, I wasn’t keen on finding another job right away. I haven’t been unintentionally unemployed since…high school? So I took a few months to relax, to write, to explore my options. There’s always the back of the Village Voice to fall back on if things got bad. Granted, I’m not hootchy cooch material anymore but there’d always be a waitressing gig or a bartending shift that had my name on it.

When I noticed a dip in my bank balances I really started putting effort into looking for work, setting up RSS feeds for job searches through Idealist, Monster, the Times, Craigslist. I send out a dozen or so resumes a day and thanks to the magic of the Worldwide Interwebs, I haven’t found it necessary to go to my corner newsstand and buy a newspaper, mostly because if you haven’t noticed, there really isn’t a “back of the Village Voice” anymore.

Waitressing and bartending gigs want headshots.  Or that I work strictly for tips. Or supply my own customers. When did that happen? Where are the jobs that Flo would get if she weren’t still working at Mel’s diner?

At least 50%, maybe more, of the ads I answer on Craigslist are scams. Some are telemarketing scams that with online applications that can only be completed if you say you’re interested in furthering your education. Then you’re bombarded with annoying telephone solicitations, but no job interview ever appears.  Others are phishing scams, masquerading as employment agencies or claiming to need credit reports or security clearance before even scheduling an interview. This is ACL (after craigslist) stuff, stuff that absolutely did not exist last time I looked for a job. There was no identity theft unless you lifted someone’s wallet. Here are a few of the bogus sites, but I’m sure there are dozens and dozens more.

Each one starts out almost the same:

I am contacting you to confirm that we have received your application for the Office Manager position you submitted to Employment Forever . We have recommended you as a potential candidate. In order to log in, follow the link below. This will allow you to confirm your availability to fill the position currently being offered:

A few of the phishing scams are Nigerian email scam style, like the long distance employer who wants me to handle his business affairs here and only asks that I fill in the following:

Full Name:
Full Address: (NO P.O.BOX)
City: State: Country: Zip Code:
Phone Number: Age:
Please attach any valid id if you have any

On Craigslist domestic gigs, because I have no problem with doing manual labor, I’ve found these, probably all from the same person:

Ge paid $30 to act (East Harlem)
Job will be done in my home today. Pay is $30. You must be able to act weird. Send me your phone number along with your description.

Cheer on (Harlem)
Cheer me on to exercise while i exercise. I dont have a gym, so, you have to do this job in my home. You can be a male or female of any age for this job. Pay is $10 hourly. job is around 3 hours long. I need you today. send me your name, age and phone number

I need someone to clean my room today for around $20 (Harlem)
Ths job wont take more then 2 hours.

Harlem, dude, and I assume you are a dude – all I have to say is, you’re lonely, you can’t spell and dude, you cheap like a mofo.

Or this job, closer to home, that pays $15/hr.

SEEKING BI-LINGUAL (SPANISH-ENGLISH) FEMALE ENEMA ADMINISTRATOR (QUEENS)

on a part time basis to assist mature male. this will be twice a month for 3 hours each visit. please be skilled at giving a deep tissue, full body massage as patient has mild osteoarthritis. both these treatments are ordered by the doctor and you will be given a great letter of reference if needed! this is a permanent part time situation. please leave contact info and the best time to call. thank you kindly.

Harlem’s posts have all been deleted and EnemaBoy’s are still there, so maybe he’s legit.  Maybe, but that wasn’t exactly the kind of manual labor I had in mind. I’m not that desperate…yet.

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the cruelest month

Posted on December 29, 2009 by the jodi

Deep in the summer I made a decision to support my local farmers, my own health and the environment by shopping locally and eating seasonally. That’s an easy decision in July and August when the markets are overflowing with tomatoes, cucumbers, salad greens, peaches and berries. But this is December, and the end of December at that. This is where the rubber meets the road. Where there are no salad greens to be had for love or money at the farmer’s markets. There is barely any spinach.

In the few short months since I started this project it’s spiraled into other parts of my life. Last spring I was buying 3 lbs of Costco berries, not caring if they went bad because, after all,  it was it was only $5. This summer that same $5 turned into a pint of berries at the farmer’s markets and just like that I learned to not only stop wasting food, but to stop taking it for granted. Food is a finite resource and I learned to be grateful for what I had.

That gratitude turned into prayer, a silent grace before each meal. Just a moment before eating that frittata to say thank you to the chickens who provided the eggs, the farmers who cultivated the spinach, raised the chickens and transported it all to me. A mental big ups to Mrs. London of Rock Hill Bakehouse for the 8 grain, 3 seed bread I’d just toasted and buttered and while I’m at it, thank you unknown cow for the milk that birthed the butter.

Instead of eating mindlessly, I was paying attention to each bite, savoring it, really getting the full pleasure of each ingredient. Being present for my food turned into eating less.

Eating less turned into dropping one size.

I’m sticking with this. I ate my first black radish, sliced, buttered and salted on  8 grain bread. My grandmother served it the same way, using chicken fat instead of butter. I like the idea of eating roots to get back to my roots.

Next winter, hopefully, I’ll have gotten the hang of planning ahead. Some time in the summer I’ll know to can some tomatoes, make some sauce and freeze it, make strawberry jam, learn how to clean and freeze spinach.

This winter I’m happy just to learn that there is more than one way to bake a squash.

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comfort & joy

Posted on December 22, 2009 by the jodi

jodi sh doff : onlythejodi : comfort and joy : happy people

Although I’ve never actually heard it, I’ve heard of Christian rock. I’m all for the spirit in song. I was raised on Gospel music. But oddly, there was no religion in my house, no God at all.  I had to go find that for myself.

I had to find my Judaism, which I’m still working on. Last year, I got my first menorah. This year, I have a special column for Hanukkah week, Jewish strippers talk about being…Jewish strippers. It’s my way of bringing my two lives together.

Recently, I had to ask my neighbor to turn down her music. I couldn’t listen to any more John Lennon. I felt like a real creep when she started crying because it was the anniversary of his death, didn’t I know? No, I didn’t. But c’mon, I mean it was 29 years ago and this neighbor is barely over 30, so what could she actually remember about John Lennon?

But people who sing hymns and gospel and Christian rock don’t actually remember God. They know God.

This week I got to hear the Christian rock equivalent for my people.  Jewish rock, light. A hot rock ‘n roll chick in the requisite skintight black jeans, boots and chunky blond streaks sang songs of love and light, praise to the faith and to God. I didn’t care for her music in particular, but I was truly moved by the sentiment. It reminded me of my favorite Sufi poet, Hafiz, with his love poems to God. People sang along in English and in Hebrew.

When I say people, I mean everyone except me. For one, I don’t know Hebrew, for another, I’m still uncomfortable participating in group spiritual experiences and collective joy. I’m the one at weddings who always had to get a wee bit drunky before she could let loose and dance.

The evening ended with Klezmer. This is the music of my peoples, those itinerant traveling musical Jews in Eastern Europe, it is the happiest music around.

Even if I didn’t care for her music, that rock goddess created something to praise the holy and the beautiful, music to uplift. John Lennon sang about peace and love, Klezmer is totally uplifting and joyous and Hafiz whom I adore is, again, about the best in Man and the world.

I started to think about what I create, in that “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem” way. The bulk of my writing is about the outcasts of society. I tell the truth about a time and place in NY that is lost and the people who inhabited it when it wasn’t. Couldn’t I be spending more of my energy in something uplifting, something that contributes to the greater good? Shouldn’t I? Am I?

I am, it just looks a little different when I do it. I’m not a music maker, I’m a storyteller. I tell stories of the lost and in an effort to keep them from being forgotten. Sometimes, a cool hand on a fevered brow is enough to get you through the night.

And here, my holiday gift to you. A little bit of Jewish joy from the Klezmatics

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